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Topic: Opinions on school uniforms (Read 15521 times)

I had a school uniform at secondary school in the UK, and it was just an accepted part of the deal. I found that it was a leveller, or maybe I was just not so observant, and it did not worry me that one girl wore a uniform that was in better condition that anothers. When we were allowed to wear "a suitable top" with our school skirt in the 6th form, then you would see a more marked change between the girls in the quality of the clothes they wore. With todays insistance on labels and designer gear, that would be even worse. No one remarked on it then, 1964-1970, as they do today.

After I left, the uniform changed, and the rule seemed to be simply wear a blue blouse navy skirt, and navy cardigan, but there were no rules about the style. It wasn't uniform in any sense of the word. Now it has been changed to blue blouses with navy trousers, or skirts, and a sweat shirt with the school badge and the girls look very nice.

My main beef with school uniforms is the colours some schools wear. Unless there is a second hand garment going via schemes run by the school ( and they did not exist in my day) few places other than the official school outifitters sell blazers in scarlet, royal blue or green. A friends son wore a bright green blazer for the first 5 years of his school career, then the 6th formers wore black blazers. By the end of the 5th year the green blazer was very worn, but friend made her lad nurse it along until she could buy him an M&S blazer for much less than the cost of the school outfitters.

You can express creativity in other ways than dress. And besides, without things like school unifrom, what have you got to rebel against?

At an old girls reunion I met a lady who was at school in the 1950s. Her mother bought a blouse from the school outfitters, and the assistant recommended one with room for growth. She said it had so much room that she wore it as a maternity smock when she was pregnant with her son.

You can express creativity in other ways than dress. And besides, without things like school unifrom, what have you got to rebel against?

Like Luna Lovegood and her radish earrings and butterbeer cork necklace. Not having any personal experience with school uniforms, I thought of Hogwart's uniforms and how there's little differentiation beyond house colors. And other than the Slytherins like Malfoy, most people didn't think twice that the Weasley's often had hand-me-down robes and secondhand books.

Heehee...until poor Ron showed up in his dress robes at the Yule ball, but I think that really bothered him most as few others seemed to really care.

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Beyond a wholesome discipline, be gentle with yourself. You are a child of the universe, no less than the trees and the stars. You have a right to be here. Be cheerful, strive to be happy. -Desiderata

I like uniforms. DS #2's elementary school tried to do the uniform thing once. Since it was voluntary, about 1/3 of the kids participated. As you can imagine, it fizzled out pretty quickly. Too bad, IMO. He attended private jr. high, and had to wear a uniform every day. It was great! Affordable, easy to pick out clothes for the day.

When I was in N. Ireland, I noticed that the public school kids wore uniforms; both genders wore blazers/ties. At the end of school each day you'd see them loosening their ties and untucking their shirts. It was like watching a BBC show! Interesting thing is, I saw lots of personality coming through even though the kids were wearing identical clothes. You don't need bling to be yourself.

Interesting thing is, I saw lots of personality coming through even though the kids were wearing identical clothes. You don't need bling to be yourself.

POD! School uniforms are the norm here, and I actually find it easier to tell the kids apart when they're wearing their uniforms than when they wear their own clothes on free dress day. Most of them have added their own 'stamp' to their uniform, whereas on free dress day they all turn up in jeans/shorts and look pretty similar (and scruffy).

I never wore a school uniform, but I joined the military right after high school and wore that uniform throughout my early adult life. Frankly it was a P.I.T.A. to get everything ironed, creased, lint-rolled, etc. every morning in an impossible quest for perfection. We only had 2 complete uniforms so we had to do laundry pretty much every day. There would always be a thread or wrinkle somewhere so a superior could bawl us out whenever they felt like it.

For this reason, I associate uniforms with being coerced and controlled. Students in uniforms are perceived as being under control, but I suspect it's all an illusion. I've seen kids in uniforms act just as cruelly as kids without uniforms. It depends more on the culture of a particular school. Uniforms may look good to adults, but they don't automatically translate into brighter, happier or more moral students.

Ooooh I HATED my uniform. I had to wear it in Middle School (ages 10-13) and unfortunately for me, developed early. The uniforms were required purchase from the school, and were ungodly expensive. For girls, they consisted of either blue slacks or a pleated skirt and a white button down top with the school crest in red on the chest. Everything needed to be ironed, and seemed to be built for teeny tiny girls, which I was not. The sizing was for "the average teen" and had no darts in the shirt or pants, so anyone with any curve was out of luck. I spent time hiding from the skinny girls, who looked oh-so-cute, while I looked like I was wearing a maternity shirt, which would never stay tucked in due to the bottom half being 3 or 4 sizes too big, to accommodate my girls. And woe to the girls with hips. I had many friends sent home for being "inappropriate" when there was no way to fit women's hips in girls clothing. The only fix was tailoring, but that would be on top of buying the $40 shirt, so we never did. Kids will always find something to pick on other kids for. I still shudder thinking about it.

I ended up at a High School that had a strict dress code over a uniform, which I vastly preferred. It left room for things like dresses and tops that actually fit, as while it still had to be a button down, they could be purchased anywhere. I feel that it did a great job walking the line between keeping people orderly and neat, and allowing for differences, not only of personality but size and shape as well. It was also a great lesson in how to dress in the "real world". Granted, that lesson might be lost on me now, as I work somewhere where we wear jeans and sports wear...

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"He attacked everything in life with a mix of extraordinary genius and naive incompetence, and it was often difficult to tell which was which." Douglas Adams

Both South Africa and Zimbabwe (both places I went to school in) have school uniforms for all schools. I don't know of a single school that doesn't have a uniform.

My school was a girls only school and we had very strict uniform rules. Like many schools in both countries (both girls and boy's schools) we had to wear a tie every day (I'm one of the few women in my circle of friends I know who can still tie a tie on automatic without thinking about it). Missing buttons, unshined shoes, too long finger nails, or too short skirts could get you detention. There were rules about when and where you could wear your blazer and your jersey, and what socks were worn in what term, how you could cut your hair, what kind of earrings you could wear.

My school only started letting girls wear trousers as part of their uniform the year after I left school, which I'm still sulking about. I've noticed that with the growing presence of Muslim students at the school, they've introduced a muslim compliant version of the uniform for them as well.

For personalization, we tended to do up our school bags with patches and our pencil cases and work books with pictures.

I shudder to think how nasty things could have gotten if girls had had the chance to discriminate based on clothing styles. I have no sense of style what-so-ever and still struggle to figure out what looks good on me. The thought of trying to deal with that stress during high school is horrifying.

« Last Edit: April 07, 2014, 04:13:55 AM by WolfWay »

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It's best to love your family as you would a Siberian Tiger - from a distance, preferably separated by bars . -- Pearls Before Swine (16-May-2009)

I like uniforms, but I really dislike being told which suppliers to use. I had lousy service from the sports uniform supplier, and the blazer which cost me almost £40 is polyester and covered in little pills after less than a year.

I have to wear a uniform for work- the jacket they supplied didn't cost much more than my son's blazer, was wool blend and was still going strong nearly two years later.

My boys have gone to schools with uniforms and without and I much prefer without. I don't understand the "it's cheaper" argument. I'm buying 6 sets of clothes I wouldn't normally, where's the money saving there? They don't play outside in their uniform, they don't wear it at weekends or during holidays. They don't come home and change into their pajamas.

When I was at school, my uniforms had to be bought from a specific department store, and were quite expensive (white blouse, navy skirt, blazer...). But having them meant that I never had to think about what to wear to school, and I was grateful for that. As a boarder, I had to change out of the uniform into 'mufti' when I got back to the boarding house, which was fine, but being in uniform meant nobody needed loads of clothes.

My childrens' school uniforms were much more cheaply available. While in primary school (up to age 11) they could be bought easily from Woolworths, Marks & Spencer, and probably some of the local supermarkets too, and of course the PTA ran a second-hand service. At secondary school (11-18) they had to wear white shirts, black trousers (skirts optional, but my DD never wanted one) and jackets, and a school tie. Sweaters optional, but I don't recall ever seeing a student wearing one. It was necessary to buy a school badge which was to be sewn on to the jacket breast pocket. Easy, and far cheaper than an array of clothes to cover the school year!

Here we have what is called Uniform Dress Code. Our kids can wear any "Polo" style shirt (Golf Shirt) in any solid color, Jeans, kakis, navy pants/shorts/skorts/skirts/Jumper (US not UK type). It can be bought at any store that carries kids clothes.

As soon as you specifiy a specific brand/vendor that turns into a Uniform and either under Texas law or Title I the district now has to supply it to everyone on free or reduced.

My problem is the code not being enforced. The argument is that K-5 kids don't control what their parents buy/send them in. Fine then don't have the code, because letting them slide on uniform code means they think they can slide on other rules. Starting tomorrow the office is going to start calling parents to come bring clothes in code or take their kids home.

Most schools in Australia require students to wear a uniform, and probably about 99% of them have a uniform shop on the premises, where the entire outfit can be purchased. This may or may not include socks and/or shoes. For many schools it's a major source of income for the PTA (along with the tuckshop). In many cases, it's the only place families can buy uniforms, particularly dresses or tops, as they'll have the school logo/name embroidered or imprinted on them. Shorts or long pants can often be bought elsewhere, so long as the specific colour and style are maintained.

As soon as you specify a specific brand/vendor that turns into a Uniform and either under Texas law or Title I the district now has to supply it to everyone on free or reduced.

Does this mean that any child in a Texas school who has to wear a specific uniform gets it all for free? Apologies if I'm interpreting this incorrectly, but I'm wondering how this can be financially feasible for a school/district/state?